Almond Hummus

 I love hummus. I love to pair it with veggies, top it on a salad and drag a piece of pita through it. I have tried a few incarnations of flavored hummus, such as red pepper, garlic, spinach and artichoke, and sundried tomato. All are tasty, but basically just added ingredients to the classic garbanzo and tahini based dip. However, when I came across this recipe for Almond Hummus in the Wall Street Journal, I decided to give it a try. There is not a garbanzo bean, drop of oil or tahini in this dip, which was even more of a FabuLesley reason to try it.  Since almonds are loaded with protein, calcium and vitamin E, I decided to go for it. There was not a drop left in the bowl.

Almond Hummus

Total Time: 45 minutes Makes: 3 cups

       2 cups slivered almonds

       4 cups unsweetened almond milk

       2 fresh bay leaves

       5 cloves garlic

       ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum

       2 tablespoons honey

       1 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place almonds on a baking sheet and toast until golden brown, 8-10 minutes.

2. In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, simmer toasted almonds with almond milk, bay leaves and garlic 30 minutes. Occasionally check liquid in pan; you don't want milk to reduce too much. If it does, add more to pan.

3. Strain almond-milk mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, reserving liquid. Remove bay leaves from nuts and discard. Place ⅓ of the warm nuts and garlic in a blender. Add enough reserved liquid to cover nuts. Blend on high speed until smooth and creamy. Repeat with remaining nuts, in batches, adding more liquid as needed, until all nuts are incorporated.

4. Add remaining ingredients to almonds and mix together until smooth.